TUAW's Daily iOS App: Piclings

Piclings is an interesting one. It's a platformer, which means you guide a little character named Picazzo around a series of levels, picking up various coins and power-ups. It's cute enough, but the real draw is that Piclings lets you create your own levels by taking a picture with your iPhone's camera or using a picture you've already taken. You can use a level editor to design maps or let the app convert the image automatically, so even if you're not a great designer, any picture you've taken works.

It's pretty intriguing. Obviously, it doesn't work perfectly all of the time, but that's kind of the game -- to see just how the app converts a picture that you take. Unfortunately, the controls are kind of hinky (you float around according to a meter rather than jumping like a normal platformer), but navigating is easy enough. There's also no real overall goal. You can earn achievements and collect things in the levels, but there's very little pushing you through the game as a whole. Game Center integration extends the gameplay a bit, and you can even "share" levels by passing your pictures around.

Piclings is a good idea, and while it's not quite the best implementation, it's definitely worth a look for US0$.99 as a universal app, especially if you're interested in seeing how the picture levels work.